Matched was a fairly mellow book for a dystopian fiction. In fact, it started off with a markedly utopia society in which peace reigned. Cassia looked forward to her Matching ceremony, where she would meet her Match. She fully trusted the Society to determine her ideal partner whom she would marry four years later, when they were 21 years old.

What do you make of a book that everyone has already loved to shreds? How do you pick up those pieces and see what others saw before you? Hype has a way of bringing awareness to certain books. At the same time, it can negatively impact one’s enjoyment. Without the hype I wouldn’t have loved Lola and the Boy Next Door. With the hype, I came to feel indifferent.

Closure is something that we often seek to come to terms with the end of something. Often it helps us resolve issues, so we can move on with our lives without dwelling too much on the past. Yet once in a while the time comes that closure is no longer necessary. It’s way past overdue…

There is something terrifying yet absolutely comforting about coming across a character that seems to be of equal mind to mine. Or maybe it’s the author’s thoughts that might as well have been pulled out of my very own mind. Not that I could have written this tale but the voice! That voice was like…

I can’t remember the last time I loved a book that made me so so angry! Virtuosity did it for me. I must say I experienced a roller coaster ride of emotions. There were moments I felt happy and mesmerised and others where I felt sad and furious. Martinez writes beautifully and knows how to surprise her readers, which I already said about her second book, The Space Between Us. They are moving stories with beautiful prose and lots of surprises.